1988 Individual Speedway World Championship

The 1988 Individual Speedway World Championship was the 43rd edition of the official World Championship to determine the world champion rider.^[1][2][3][4]

The final was held at the Vojens Speedway Center, owned by former World Champion Ole Olsen. Despite the country having won seven World Individual Championships between three riders since 1971 (Olsen, Erik Gundersen and Hans Nielsen), it was the first time Denmark hosted the World Final.^[5]

Gundersen renewed his fierce rivalry with Nielsen as both finished on 13 points to tie for the lead of the Championship. However it was Gundersen that won the toss to choose his starting gate for the run-off. He chose the outside and on a wet track he won his third title by defeating Nielsen in the run-off. Fellow Dane Jan O. Pedersen completed a clean sweep for Denmark by taking the bronze medal.^[6]

New Zealand Qualification[]

Date	Venue	Winner	Runner-up	3rd place
South Island Final
??	Nelson	Larry Ross
North Island Final
??	Kihikihi	Gary Allan
New Zealand Final
??	Christchurch	Larry Ross	David Bargh	Gary Allan

New Zealand Final[]

•  NZL Christchurch
• Marked in green to Commonwealth Final

Pos.	Rider	Total
1	Larry Ross	15
2	David Bargh	14
3		13
4		11
5		11
6	Mitch Shirra	9
7		7
8		7
9		7
10		7
11		4
12	Mark Thorpe	4
13		3
14		3
15		2
16		2
17		0
18		0

Australian Qualification[]

Date	Venue	Winner	Runner-up	3rd place
Northern Territory Championship
??	Alice Springs		??	??
Victorian Championship
??	Mildura	Phil Crump	Leigh Adams	??
New South Wales Championship
??	Newcastle
South Australian Championship
??	Murray Bridge		Mark Fiora
Queensland Championship
??	Rockhampton	Steve Regeling	Troy Butler	??
Western Australian Championship
??	Perth	*	Glenn Doyle	??
Australian Championship Final
January 23	Murray Bridge	Phil Crump	Steve Regeling

* Due to the rules, England's Rob Woffinden did not progress to the Australian Championship

Australian Final[]

• January 23, 1988
• Murray Bridge
• Marked in green to Commonwealth Final

Pos.	Rider	Heat Scores	Total
1	Phil Crump		15
2	Steve Regeling		11
3			11
4	Mark Fiora		10
5	Troy Butler		10
6			9
7			8
8	Leigh Adams		8
9			7
10			7
11	Steve Baker		6
12			6
13			5
14	Glenn Doyle		4
15			1
16			1

British Qualification[]

Date	Venue	Winner	Runner-up	3rd place
Preliminary Round
8 April	Oxford	Simon Wigg	Jeremy Doncaster	John Davis
8 April	Edinburgh	Mark Courtney		Les Collins
14 April	Middlesbrough	Darren Sumner	Steve Wilcock	Neville Tatum
16 April	Stoke	Graham Jones	Nigel Crabtree	Andy Galvin
Final
22 May	Coventry	Simon Wigg	Kelvin Tatum	Chris Morton

British Final[]

• May 22, 1988
•  GBR Coventry, Brandon Stadium
• First 8 to Commonwealth Final

Placing	Rider	Total	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	Pts	Pos	21	22
	(6) Simon Wigg	14		3				2			3							3			3		14	1
	(14) Kelvin Tatum	13				3		3					2		2							3	13	2
	(13) Chris Morton	11				2	2							3		3					1		11	3		3
4	(3) Simon Cross	11	1						3				3				2				2		11	4		2
5	(5) Neil Evitts	10		1			3					3					3					X	10	5
6	(12) Richard Knight	10			3					2		2			3						0		10	6
7	(16) John Davis	9				1				3	1						1			3			9	7
8	(2) Marvyn Cox	8	3					1				1				1				2			8	8
9	(1) Andy Smith	8	2				1				2				1				2				8	9
10	(8) Steve Schofield	6		0						E			1			2			3				6	10
11	(11) Andrew Silver	6			2				2		F					0						2	6	11
12	(7) Neil Collins	5		2					1					1	0					1			5	12
13	(4) Jeremy Doncaster	4	0							1				0				2				1	4	13
14	(10) Andy Galvin	3			1			F						2			0		0				3	14
15	(15) Sean Wilson	2				0			0			E						1	1				2	15
16	(9) Gary Havelock	0			F		-						-					-		-			0	16
R1	(R1)	0					0											E					0	R1
R2	(R2)	0											0							0			0	R2
Placing	Rider	Total	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	Pts	Pos	21	22

gate A - inside

gate B

gate C

gate D - outside

Swedish Qualification[]

Date	Venue	Winner	Runner-up	3rd place
Semi-Finals
7 May	Huddinge	Tony Olsson	Peter Karlsson	Conny Ivarsson
7 May	Gislaved	Claes Ivarsson	Jan Andersson
Final
17 May	Malmö		Conny Ivarsson	Mikael Blixt
18 May	Norrköping	Peter Nahlin	Conny Ivarsson	Mikael Blixt
19 May	Hallstavik	Conny Ivarsson	Peter Nahlin	Mikael Blixt

Swedish Final[]

• May 17, 18 & 19, 1988
•  SWE - 3 Rounds (Malmö, Norrköping & Hallstavik)
• First 3 to Nordic Final plus 1 reserve
• Per Jonsson and Jimmy Nilsen seeded to Nordic Final

Pos.	Rider	Scores	Total
1	Conny Ivarsson	12+13+14	39
2	Peter Nahlin	11+14+13	38
3	Mikael Blixt	12+13+13	38
4		14+10+9	33
5	Tony Olsson	9+12+10	31
6		8+3+12	23
7	Peter Karlsson	8+8+7	23
8		10+9+4	23
9		4+8+8	20
10	Dennis Löfqvist	7+8+4	19
11	Claes Ivarsson	6+8+4	18
12		4+6+7	17
13	Tommy Nilsson	3+5+2	10
14		ns+ns+8	8
15	Roland Dannö	4+2+ns	6
16	(Res)	3+ns+3	6
17		5+0+ns	5
18	(Res)	ns+0+1	1

Intercontinental Round[]

Date	Venue	Winner	Runner-up	3rd place
Finnish Final
28 April	Karhula	Kai Niemi
Danish Final
8 May	Outrup	Hans Nielsen	Jan O. Pedersen	Erik Gundersen
American Final
11 June	Long Beach	Sam Ermolenko	Robert Pfetzing	Rick Miller
Commonwealth Final
12 June	Kings Lynn	Kelvin Tatum	Mitch Shirra	Simon Wigg
Overseas Final
12 July	Coventry	Simon Cross	Kelvin Tatum	Simon Wigg
Nordic Final
25 July	Sandnes	Hans Nielsen	Erik Gundersen	Jan O. Pedersen
Intercontinental Final
6 August	Vetlanda	Jan O. Pedersen	Hans Nielsen	Erik Gundersen

Finnish Final[]

• April 28, 1988
• Karhula
• First to Nordic Final

Pos.	Rider	Heat Scores	Total
1	Kai Niemi	3,3,3,3,3	15
2		3,3,3,2,3	14
3		3,3,1,3,2	12+3
4	Petri Kokko	2,2,3,3,2	12+2
5		2,3,3,2,1	11
6		2,2,2,E,3	9
7		0,1,2,2,3	8
8		3,2,2,X,1	8
9		1,1,1,1,2	6
10		2,0,0,3,F	5
11		1,1,2,1,0	5
12		0,F,0,2,2	4
13		1,2,0,1,-	4
14		1,1,1,E,1	4
15		0,0,1,0,-	1
16		0,-,-,-,-	0
R1		1	1
R2		0	0
R3		0,0,0	0
R4		X	0

Danish Final[]

• May 8
• Outrup,
• First 7 to Nordic final plus 1 reserve

Pos.	Rider	Total
1	Hans Nielsen	15
2	Jan O. Pedersen	14
3	Erik Gundersen	13
4	Peter Ravn	10
5		9
6	Per Sorensen	9
7	John Jørgensen	8+3
8	Tommy Knudsen	8+2
9	Jan Stæchmann	7
10		6
11		6
12		6
13		5
14		4
15		0
16	Finn Rune Jensen	0

American Final[]

• June 11
• Long Beach, Veterans Memorial Stadium
• First 5 to Overseas final plus 1 reserve

Pos.	Rider	Heat Scores	Total
1	Sam Ermolenko	4,4,4,4,4	20
2	Robert Pfetzing	4,2,4,3,4	17+3
3	Rick Miller	4,4,3,4,2	17+2
4	Mike Faria	3,3,2,3,4	15
5	Bobby Schwartz	1,4,4,2,3	14
6	Shawn Moran	3,4,3,F,3	13
7	Ronnie Correy	3,3,3,3,0	12
8	Kelly Moran	2,3,4,0,2	11
9		0,3,2,2,4	11
10	Steve Lucero	2,2,3,2,1	10
11		2,2,2,1,3	10
12	Lance King	4,2,E,0,3	9
13	Brad Oxley	1,1,1,4,2	9
14		1,0,2,4,1	8
15		3,0,E,2,2	7
16	Bart Bast	1,1,1,3,0	6
17	Billy Hamill	0,1,0,1,1	3
18	Gary Hicks	2,0,0,-,-	2
19	(Res)	0,1,-,-,-	1
20		0,0,0,1,0	1
21		1

Commonwealth Final[]

• June 12
• King's Lynn, Norfolk Arena
• First 11 to Overseas Final plus 1 reserve

Pos.	Rider	Heat Scores	Total
1	Kelvin Tatum	3,2,3,3,3	14
2	Mitch Shirra	2,3,3,2,3	13
3	Simon Wigg	3,3,3,3,0	12
4	John Davis	3,1,2,2,3	11
5	Simon Cross	3,0,3,X,3	9
6	Chris Morton	1,3,2,2,1	9
7	Neil Evitts	2,1,0,3,2	8
8	Andy Smith	1,3,1,1,2	8
9	Richard Knight	F,X,2,3,2	7
10		2,2,1,1,1	7
11	Marvyn Cox	2,1,1,1,2	7
12	Mark Fiora	0,2,0,2,1	5
13	David Bargh	0,2,1,0,0	3
14	Steve Baker	0,0,2,1,0	3
15	Steve Regeling	1,1,0,0,1	3
16		1,0,0,E,0	1

Overseas Final[]

• July 12
• Coventry, Brandon Stadium
• First 9 to Intercontinental Final plus 1 reserve

Placing	Rider	Total	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	Pts	Pos	21
	(6) Simon Cross	13		2				3			3							3			2		13	1	3
	(10) Kelvin Tatum	13			3			1						3			3		3				13	2	2
	(8) Simon Wigg	13		3						2			3			3			2				13	3	1
4	(2) Chris Morton	12	2					2				3				2				3			12	4
5	(14) Marvyn Cox	10				3		0					1		3							3	10	5
6	(3) Mitch Shirra	10	3						1				2				1				3		10	6
7	(4) Richard Knight	8	0							3				2				2				1	8	7
8	(5) Sam Ermolenko	7		0			3					2					2					F	7	8
9	(13) John Davis	7				2	2							1		1					1		7	9
10	(15) Andy Smith	6				1			3			1						0	1				6	10	3
11	(11) Mike Faria	6			1				2		1					0						2	6	11	2
12	(7) Robert Pfetzing	5		1					0					F	2					2			5	12
13	(16) Rick Miller	4				0				1	2						0			1			4	13
14	(9) Bobby Schwartz	3			2		0						0					1		0			3	14
15	(1) Neil Evitts	3	1				1				F				1				0				3	15
16	(12)	0			0					0		0			0						0		0	16
R1	(R1) Mark Fiora	0																					0	R1
R2	(R2) Shawn Moran	0																					0	R2
Placing	Rider	Total	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	Pts	Pos	21

gate A - inside

gate B

gate C

gate D - outside

Nordic Final[]

• July 25
• Sandnes, Sandnes Stadion
• First 7 to Intercontinental final plus 1 reserve

Placing	Rider	Total	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	Pts	Pos	21
	(7) Hans Nielsen	15		3					3					3	3					3			15	1
	(13) Erik Gundersen	13				3	3							2		2					3		13	2
	(12) Jan O. Pedersen	12			3					3		3			1						2		12	3
4	(1) Per Jonsson	11	3				E				3				2				3				11	4
5	(5) Peter Ravn	11		2			2					2					2					3	11	5
6	(10) John Jørgensen	10			2			2						1			3		2				10	6
7	(2) Conny Ivarsson	8	2					3				0				1				2			8	7	3
8	(8)	8		1						2			1			3			1				8	8	2
9	(9) Jimmy Nilsen	7			1		1						3					2		E			7	9
10	(11) Peter Nahlin	6			0				2		2					0						2	6	10
11	(3)	5	1						0				2				1				1		5	11
12	(4) Kai Niemi	4	0							1				0				3				E	4	12
13	(16) Tor Einar Hielm	3				1				0	1						0			1			3	13
14	(15) Per Sorensen	3				0			1			1						1	0				3	14
15	(14) Mikael Blixt	2				2		E					E		0							E	2	15
16	(6)	1		0				1			0							-			-		1	16
R1	(R1)	0																0					0	R1
R2	(R2) Arnt Forland	0																			0		0	R2
Placing	Rider	Total	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	Pts	Pos	21

gate A - inside

gate B

gate C

gate D - outside

Intercontinental Final[]

• August 6
• Vetlanda, Vetlanda Speedway
• First 11 to the World Final plus 1 reserve

Placing	Rider	Total	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	Pts	Pos	21
	(6) Jan O. Pedersen	14		3				3			3							3			2		14	1
	(1) Hans Nielsen	12	3				3				2				1				3				12	2	3
	(15) Erik Gundersen	12				3			3			3						2	1				12	3	2
4	(5) Per Jonsson	11		2			2					3					1					3	11	4	1
5	(7) Kelvin Tatum	11		2					2					3	3					1			11	5
6	(10) Conny Ivarsson	9			1			2						2			2		2				9	6
7	(3) Chris Morton	8	1						1				0				3				3		8	7
8	(8) John Davis	8		1						3			2			2			0				8	8
9	(2) John Jørgensen	7	2					0				0				3				2			7	9
10	(11) Simon Wigg	7			2				0		1					1						3	7	10
11	(12) Sam Ermolenko	7			0					2		2			2						1		7	11
12	(14) Simon Cross	5				2		1					1		0							1	5	12
13	(9) Peter Ravn	3			0		0						1					E		2			3	13
14	(4) Mitch Shirra	2	0							1				1				0				0	2	14
15	(13) Marvyn Cox	2				1	1							0		0					0		2	15
16	(16) Richard Knight	1				E				0	0						1			0			1	16
R1	(R1)	0																					0	R1
R2	(R2) Andy Smith	0																					0	R2
Placing	Rider	Total	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	Pts	Pos	21

gate A - inside

gate B

gate C

gate D - outside

Continental Qualifications 1989[]

Austrian Final[]

•  AUT 18 June - St. Johann im Pongau, 31 July - Wiener Neustadt, 3 September - Natschbach-Loipersbach
• Marked in green to Continental Qualification 1989

Pos.	Rider	Scores	Total
1			40
2			36
3			35
4			33
5			33
6			32
7			31
8			21
9			7
10			6
11			4
12			2
13			2
14	Hans Kogler		2
15			1
16			1
17			0

German Final[]

• October 2, 1988
•  FRG Brokstedt
• Marked in green to Continental Qualification 1989

Pos.	Rider	Scores	Total
1	Klaus Lausch	3,3,3,3,2	14+3
2	Tommy Dunker	3,3,2,3,3	14+2
3	Karl Maier	2,2,3,3,2	12
4	Gerd Riss	E,3,3,2,3	11
5		3,2,2,2,1	10
6	Andre Pollehn	2,1,2,2,1	8
7		1,3,3,F,-	7
8		0,2,0,2,3	7
9		3,0,1,1,2	7
10		1,0,1,1,3	6
11		1,2,2,F,-	5
12		2,1,1,E,0	4
13		2,0,0,F,1	3
14		1,F,0,0,2	3
15		0,1,1,1,0	3
16	Egon Muller	F,-,-,-,-	0
R1		1,0,3,1,1	6

Hungarian Final[]

• Marked in green to Continental Qualification 1989

Pos.	Rider	Scores	Total
1	Zoltán Adorján		56
2	Antal Kocso		49
3	Róbert Nagy		47
4			47
5			46
6	Sándor Tihanyi		45
7			38
8			30
9			30
10			28
11			26
12			19
13			15
14			12

Yugoslavian Final[]

• Marked in green to Continental Qualification 1989

Pos.	Rider	Scores	Total
1			110
2			96
3			83
4			79
5	Kreso Omerzel		78
6			76
7			70
8			62
9			57
10			54
11			54
12			33
13			27
14			23
15			22
16			10
17			8
18			6
19			1

Czechoslovakian Final[]

• Marked in green to Continental Qualification 1989

Pos.	Rider	Scores	Total
1	Roman Matoušek		76
2	Antonín Kasper Jr.		72
3	Zdenek Schneiderwind		68
4			63
5	Petr Vandirek		54
6	Bohumil Brhel		53
7			53
8			39
9			38
10			35
11	Jan Holub II		26
12	Zdeněk Tesař		26
13			25
14			23
15			21
16			16
17	Vaclav Milik, Sr.		10
18			10
19			10

USSR Final[]

• October 2, 1988
•  Soviet Union Rovno
• Marked in green to Continental Qualification 1989

Pos.	Rider	Scores	Total
1		3,3,3,3,3	15
2	Rif Saitgareev	3,3,3,2,3	14
3	Rinat Mardanshin	3,2,2,3,2	12
4	Mikhail Starostin	2,2,2,3,2	11
5		2,1,3,2,2	10
6		E,3,2,3,1	9
7		3,0,0,1,3	7
8		1,E,3,2,1	7
9		1,0,1,1,3	6
10		1,3,1,0,1	6
11		1,2,1,0,2	6
12		2,2,F,1,1	6
13		0,1,1,2,0	4
14		2,F,0,1,-	3
15		0,T,2,0,-	2
16		ns

Continental Round[]

Date	Venue	Winner	Runner-up	3rd place
Preliminary Round
7 May	Ostrów Wielkopolski		Ryszard Dołomisiewicz	Valery Gordeev
7 May	Natschbach-Loipersbach	Paolo Salvatelli
8 May	Ljubljana
8 May		Viktor Kuznetsov	Henny Kroeze
Quarter-Finals
22 May	Norden	Antal Kocso	Paolo Salvatelli	Gerd Riss
5 June	Lonigo	Viktor Kuznetsov		Roman Jankowski
5 June	Rivne	Antonín Kasper Jr.	Zoltán Adorján	Petr Vandirek
5 June	Žarnovica	Roman Matoušek
Semi-Finals
18 June	Rzeszow	Roman Matoušek	Zenon Kasprzak	Roman Jankowski
18 June	Miskolc	Gerd Riss	Sándor Tihanyi	Antal Kocso
Final
16 August	Leszno	Zenon Kasprzak	Antal Kocso	Roman Jankowski

Nederlands Final[]

•  NED 3 April - Feyenoord, 26 June, 11 September - Amsterdam, 2 October - Blijham
• Marked in green to Continental Qualification

Pos.	Rider	Scores	Total
1		24+22+20+24	90
2		21+21+24+23	89
3		19+24+23+22	88
4		17+19+22+20	78
5		20+20+19+19	78
6		18+14+17+21	70
7		15+17+18+17	67
8		22+18+21+ns	61
9		16+13+14+15	58
10		8+15+16+18	57
11		14+11+15+16	56
12		13+12+13+9	47
13	Henny Kroeze	23+23+ns+ns	46
14		9+10+11+10	40
15		10+ns+12+12	34
16		6+8+8+11	33
17		ns+7+10+13	30
18		7+9+9+2	27
19		3+6+ns+7	16
20		ns+16+ns+ns	16
21		ns+ns+7+8	15
22		ns+ns+ns+14	14
23	Jan Dijkema	12+ns+ns+ns	12
24		11+ns+ns+ns	11
25		5+5+ns+ns	10
26		ns+ns+5+4	9
27		4+4+ns+ns	8
28		ns+ns+3+1	4
29		+ns+ns+ns+6	6
30		+ns+ns+ns+5	5
31		ns+ns+ns+3	3

Continental Final[]

• August 16, 1988
• Leszno, Alfred Smoczyk Stadium
• First 5 to World Final plus 1 reserve

Placing	Rider	Total	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	Pts	Pos	21	22
	(15) Zenon Kasprzak	14				3			3			3						2	3				14	1
	(10) Antal Kocso	13			3			3						2			3		2				13	2
	(3) Roman Jankowski	12	3						2				3				2				2		12	3		3
4	(2) Roman Matoušek	12	2					2				2				3				3			12	4		2
5	(9) Sándor Tihanyi	11			2		2						2					3		2			11	5	3
6	(13) Andrzej Huszcza	11				2	3							3		2					1		11	6	2
7	(6) Gerd Riss	9		3				0			2							1			3		9	7
8	(4) Antonín Kasper Jr.	8	1							3				1				0				3	8	8
9	(5) Paolo Salvatelli	6		2			F					1					1					2	6	9
10	(8)	5		1						2			0			1			1				5	10
11	(7)	4		0					1					0	3					0			4	11
12	(11) Zoltán Adorján	3			X				0		3					X						0	3	12
13	(14)	3				1		1					1		F							-	3	13
14	(1)	3	0				1				1				1				0				3	14
15	(12) Zdenek Schneiderwind	2			X					0		0			2						0		2	15
16	(16)	2				0				1	F						0			1			2	16
R1	(R1) Armando Castagna	1																				1	1	R1
Placing	Rider	Total	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	Pts	Pos	21	22

gate A - inside

gate B

gate C

gate D - outside

World Final[]

• September 3, 1988
• Vojens, Speedway Center

Placing	Rider	Total	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	Pts	Pos	21
	(1) Erik Gundersen	14	3				3				3				3				2				14	1	3
	(9) Hans Nielsen	14			3		2						3					3		3			14	2	2
	(10) Jan O. Pedersen	13			2			2						3			3		3				13	3
4	(14) Sam Ermolenko	12				3		3					2		1							3	12	4
5	(12) Per Jonsson	9			X					3		1			2						3		9	5
6	(2) Simon Wigg	9	2					0				3				2				2			9	6
7	(13) Roman Matoušek	8				1	1							2		3					1		8	7
8	(16) Kelvin Tatum	8				2				2	1						2			1			8	8
9	(3) Conny Ivarsson	7	1						3				1				0				2		7	9
10	(5) Chris Morton	6		3			0					0					1					2	6	10
11	(11) Antal Kocso	6			1				2		2					0						1	6	11
12	(7) John Davis	3		2					1					F	E					0			3	12
13	(6) John Jørgensen	3		0				1			E							2			E		3	13
14	(15) Zenon Kasprzak	3				0			0			2						1	0				3	14
15	(8) Sándor Tihanyi	3		1						0			0			1			1				3	15
16	(4) Roman Jankowski	2	0							1				1				0				E	2	16
R1	(R1) Simon Cross	0																					0	R1
R2	(R2) Andrzej Huszcza	0																					0	R2
Placing	Rider	Total	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	Pts	Pos	21

gate A - inside

gate B

gate C

gate D - outside

References[]